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INFECTION CONTROL STANDARDS FOR ADULT CARE HOMES: A CONSULTATION

Draft Standards for Infection Control in Adult Care Homes and Other Adult Care Services.

STANDARD 12– Practice: Hand Hygiene

Standard Statement

A clear hand hygiene policy and mechanism to ensure effective implementation is in place.

Rationale

There is good evidence that an effective hand hygiene policy reduces the risk of spread of infection. Therefore, a hand hygiene policy should reflect the principles of good practice related to hand hygiene, developed by ‘The EPIC Project: Developing National Evidence-based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare Associated Infections’ commissioned by the Department of Health (England).

Criteria

13.1 There is a hand hygiene policy/procedure/guidelines which reflects the principles of good practice and includes:

(a) Hand decontamination immediately before and after every episode of direct contact/ care or any activity that potentially results in hand contamination.

(b) Use of liquid soap and water for hands visibly soiled or potentially contaminated with dirt or organic material.

(c) Use of alcohol-based hand rub or hand washing with liquid soap and water to decontaminate hands between different service users or between different caring activities on same service users.

(d) Removal of all wrist and, ideally, hand jewellery at the beginning of each shift before regular hand decontamination begins.

(e) Covering all cuts and abrasions with a waterproof dressing.

(f) Effective hand washing including:

– Wetting hands under tepid running water before applying liquid soap.

– Hand wash solution must come into contact with all surfaces of hands;

– Vigorous rubbing of hands for minimum of 10-15 seconds with particular attention to tips

of fingers, thumbs and between fingers;

– Thorough rinsing;

– Drying with good quality paper towels.

(g) Effective alcohol hand rub technique:

– Use only on hands free of dirt and organic material;

– Hand rub solution must come into contact with all surfaces of hands;

– Vigorous rubbing of hands, with particular attention to tips of fingers, thumbs and

between fingers, until the solution evaporates and hands are dry.

(h) Application of an emollient hand cream regularly to protect skin from drying effects of

regular hand decontamination.

(i) Access to staff health advice in the event of skin irritation caused by a particular soap, handwash or alcohol product.

13.2 There are arrangements to support and promote hand hygiene by care workers.

13.3 Induction programmes for all staff include the topic of hand hygiene.

13.4 Compliance with hand hygiene policy/procedure/guidelines forms part of the systematic risk review.

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